The dust has settled after Middlesbrough’s lively goalless draw with Everton but here we pick out a few themes you said had been overlooked in the immediate post-match analysis.

Anthony Vickers puts the spotlight on Boro’s slow improvement in the final third and how Ben Gibson’s coming of age in the Premier League puts him in the international frame.

You can make your own suggestions of where the spotlight after games should fall using the #SecondGlance hashtag

ARE BORO IMPROVING IN THE FINAL THIRD?

The stark statistics are hard to escape. Boro are the lowest scorers in the Premier League with a sparse 19 from 25 games. The next most shot-shy are Sunderland and Leicester who have both scored 24 and who are both in the drop spots.

Boro’s tally is the lowest in all four professional divisions although if you want to clutch at some straws League One side Oldham Athletic - fifth bottom - are far worse overall as they have played 31 games to eek out just one more goal.

In 2017 Boro have scored just twice in six league games and have fought out three goalless draws.

They have failed to score in 11 of their 25 games this season, which is 44%, and as they have drawn a blank in four of their six games since the start of the New Year the problem seems to be getting worse. No wonder boring, boring Boro have taken up residence in that coveted soporific slot just before the final credits on Match of the Day.

So it seems counter-intuitive to suggest that Boro are slowly, steadily getting better up front. But they are.

Are Boro having more shots?

Boro have been solid, organised and hard-working this season but have lacked teeth. That isn’t a ground-breaking revelation.

In 15 of their 25 games the total shots tally has been in single digits and the figure for on target efforts has been just as shocking. In four games - Everton away, Chelsea at home, Leicester at home and Watford away - they managed just one shot on target. At Spurs a fortnight ago it was a big fat zero.

Yet Boro are playing higher up the pitch and getting there more quickly, are applying more pressure, putting the ball in the box more often and, gradually, getting their eye in.

Against Everton they had four shots on target. That isn’t brilliant but it is the joint highest figure of the season, matching the shot-rate of the home wins over Swansea and Hull, away at Arsenal and the home defeat to Palace, a game that ended with a sustained late flourish.

And the four shots on target from nine overall was Boro’s highest on/off ratio. It was a rare game when the opposition keeper was kept busy.

In the previous Riverside game against West Brom it was three on target from nine, again one of Boro’s highest ratios.

Before that, against West Ham Boro had 11 efforts, again, not a blur of action, but among the season’s best.

It seems to be a small but sustained improvement at the front end.

Are Boro putting in more crosses?

Yes. And markedly so. At least, they are at home anyway.

In the last four home games Boro have been getting down the flank, finding angles and putting the ball in the box.

That hasn’t been the case on the road. At Burnley, Manchester United and Spurs they managed just 14 crosses and at Watford, where they played with wing-backs, it was 15. That is some grouping.

But at the Riverside in the last four games the crosses have flown in. Against Leicester it was 40, West Ham 35, West Brom 23 and Everton 20.

That is a noticeable chance in emphasis. In the previous few home games the crossing figures had been far lower: against Swansea it was just 10. Against Liverpool 15.

Both the full-backs are delivering the ball as well as the widemen. Fabio put in three completed crosses against Everton as did makeshift right-back Calum Chambers. Against West Ham Chambers put in 10. That is an effective outlet.

It is not always effective as so often balls in are nodded or hoofed away routinely - but they ask questions, apply pressure and create possibilities in the box.

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Is there more movement?

Again, yes. It seems so. Adama Traore has obviously added pace and his direct running causes chaos for defences and he is starting to find a final ball.

But crucially, more bodies are getting forward from midfield to get on the end of the increased flurry of crosses.

Marten de Roon is developing into a high energy box-to-box workhorse and is often the furthest forward.

And Adam Forshaw has also been popping up in the penalty area. Against Everton he took some stick for an indecisive moment after breaking to the edge of the box but that is exactly the kind of crisp attacking move that the team - and the fans - have been crying out for. That kind of movement is to be encouraged.

Middlesbrough's Adlene Guedioura (Image: Ian Cooper)

New boy Adlene Guedioura has also changed the dynamic. His instinct is to play the ball forward and follow it and that both creates a problem for the opposition defence with the extra body to pick up and mark but also offers an option to receive a pass. And we know he isn’t scared of taking a shot. Take cover!

In his early outings some of his balls forward have been loose and have been intercepted - but maybe that is the price for playing a pass into space for a team-mate to attack rather than a conservative sideways one that retains passive possession in harmless areas. Once he and the team get used to that it is a useful weapon to have in your armoury.

Rudy Gestede added mobility in and around the box too. He is far from just the penalty box plank that many cruel pre-emptive critics suggested.

Against Everton he added some zest, direct movement and a physical presence and it was his neat touch and awareness that sparked the move that led to his powerful header that almost snatched a late winner.

Rudy Gestede (Image: PA)

So, are Boro getting better up front?

Yes, I think so. Slowly. In the past few home games Boro have been getting more men forward more quickly, are getting the ball in the box more often and are slowly starting to get off more shots and put more of them on target.

They are all positive trends - but Boro need to knit them all together and quickly turn them into the positive stats that really count: goals.

HAS BEN GIBSON BOOSTED HIS ENGLAND HOPES?

Goalless draws may not make the heart beat faster and everyone knows Boro need to start scoring.

But the other side of the equation is the strength at the back and all the pundits - and Gareth Southgate - know that Boro have the best defence in the league outside the top six. In fact only the top two - Chelsea and Spurs - plus Manchester United have leaked fewer than Boro’s 27 goals so far this term.

Boro have kept three clean sheets and leaked just five league goals since the turn of the year - and one of them was a penalty.

And that has put the focus on the personnel. And especially on Ben Gibson. And the Teesside tackler with the precious left foot will have done his England credential no harm in the past few weeks.

Some big personal battles

Against Everton Gibson shackled red hot Romelu Lukaka. The big Belgian arrived as the Premier League’s 16-goal top scorer and still buzzing from whacking in four in a rampant 6-3 win over Bournemouth.

He is big, strong, direct, fast and physical. The complete centre-forward and as big a challenge as they come - but Gibson more than matched Lukaku technically and tactically.

The Boro-born battler kept a tight grip on him. He denied him space to burst onto long balls forward, was first to the second touch when passes reached the striker with his back to goal and matched him in the air.

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It isn’t often Lukaku will leave the pitch frustrated at having barely got a kick.

But that wasn’t the first time Gibson had done a job on an in-form hitman. The previous outing had pitted him against Harry Kane - at the time the top scorer - and again he won the battle, keeping the Spurs man quiet.

And he has also tangled with Andy Carroll, Jamie Vardy and Zlatan Ibrahimovic in recent weeks as his top flight education continues.

Will he make the next England squad?

He must be in with a shout. Last October it seemed close between Gibson and Michael Keane for a slot in Southgate’s squad for the games with Malta and Slovenia after Glen Johnson pulled out but the Burnley man got the nod.

Arguably at the time Gibson was a rookie and playing in a side that were struggling - Boro had lost three on the trot - and he needed to hone his skills against top quality strikers.

Well he’s done that. Gibson has made an assured step up to the big league and has showed an understated incremental improvement, composure and consistency. It has been one of the stories of the season.

England manager Gareth Southgate

He has coped with the physical and technical demands of the game played at a higher pace and has shown the mental strength to stay disciplined and focused through games when Boro have been under the cosh for long spells.

So he has the skill set. England are next in action at the end of March when they play a friendly against Germany then a World Cup qualifier against Lithuania and he must have a chance of being in the squad, even if only to train and acclimatise.

He won’t be thinking that of course. He will be concentrating on his game with Boro.

But plenty of other people will be thinking it. And possibly Gareth Southgate.